Which step in the process of measuring external transactions involves assessing the equality of
total debits and total credits?

a. use source documents to determine accounts affected by the transaction.
b. preparing a trial balance.
c. analyze the impact of the transaction on the accounting equation.
d. post the transaction to the t-account in the general ledger.

B. Preparing a trial balance

Explanation:

A trial balance is not account, it simply represents a list of debits and credits derived from the ledgers. The list is usually generated after transactions have been taken from their source documents, posted to the journals and then transferred to the ledgers.

The trial balance will usually list the total of ledger items posted as debit or credit balances just as they are in the ledgers.

As said earlier, the trial balance is not an account, it is a self-check to ensure that there are no numerical errors in the debit and credit postings in the ledgers.

It simply ensures that the credit balances are equal to the debit balances meaning every debit entry had a corresponding credit entry confirming the use of double entry principle in ledger preparation.

The financial statements are usually prepared after the trial balance has verified the accuracy of debit and credit entries.